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How dare they be playing a garrison sport against their former oppressors….I’m disgusted…

Keith M

I really think that it’s bad form for England to play Ed Joyce today. Come on Ireland!!!

merrie

The Guardian website says:

“The tournament’s plucky minnows are taking on Ireland. Follow it with Rob Smyth from 2pm.”

(Shurely some mistake – Ed)

merrie

Yokel said: How dare they be playing a garrison sport against their former oppressors

One of the things I enjoyed reading sometime during the 1990s was the news that an Irish bank with National Australia Bank were taking over an English bank.

That’s the problem with empires. They strike back.

So come on Ireland against England – despite the odds.

I may not have the same view when Ireland plays Australia on Friday 13th.

The World’s Gone Mad

Apologies to my fellow-Sluggerites but I’ll be at least one Irishman who’ll be supporting England today. It’s not that I’ve got anything against the Irish cricketers or feel that the ‘all-island’ team doesn’t represent me – far from it, I’ve been as pleased as I have been surprised by their success. However, I’ve been following international cricket for nigh on 25 years and England has always been the team that I have supported.

Before I get slated this isn’t based on a knee-jerk support-the-brits-over-the-paddys decision, but after following the England team through the ups and (mostly) downs for most of my life, it isn’t easy to switch allegiances to another team now. Until recently, the Irish cricket team have only ever been a passing interest and, as fantastic, exciting and nerve-jangling their matches with Pakistan and Zimbabwe were, the last days of Edgbaston, Old Trafford, Trent Bridge and the Oval in the 2005 Ashes personally meant more.

I want England to win the World Cup, and I want them to win this match well to improve their run-rate differential which took a battering against the Kiwis. I’m glad to see Irish cricket get a well-deserved moment in the sun and I’d love to see them pull off another upset, just not today.

darth rumsfeld

TWGM- I agree that we can usually follow England & Wales, but surely today we can stand up for the Ulstermen, and the makeweights from the other provinces (and Oz) today?

BTW will the England fans give Ed Joyce a version of the NI footie fans chant to Kingsley Black in the 1980s?- “You’re not English, you’re not English, you’re not English anymore!”

merrie

The World’s Gone Mad:

I understand your dilemma. It is really difficult to change allegiances once you have made them, even (for example) when reality sinks in when some dyed-in-the-wool Manchester United fans discovered that the team they worshipped was really just a commercial company to be bought and sold on the market.

Sport is useful. I think it has prevented wars – better to spar on a playing field rather than on a battle field – engrossing the enthusiasm and dedication of young blokes who may have taken up more dangerous activities instead. (maybe sport is the way to distract people from joining al Quaeda???) And look how important the Olympics is. It only lasts about a couple of weeks every four years but the expense and benefits to the host nation are almost unbelievable.

Even more difficult than to change sporting allegiances are other attitudes, especially when ingrained from birth, such as being a Unionist in NI. You will have to be pragmatic to do that and look at other opportunities such as a better corporation tax rate beckoning over the border…

Ah, Joyce has declared for England, you can’t blame them for putting their best team out. Should Ireland leave out L-S, Johnstone and Bray v Oz or Botha v SA.

Lafcadio

Joyce may as well not have been playing – he’s gone for 1 in the second over 😀

deadmanonleave

I backed Ireland at 14 or so to 1 on the betting exchanges and it’s looking like good value so far, although Langford-Smith’s a bit wayward.

Despite being a Republican Socialist I don’t subscribe to the ‘garrison game’ nonsense that some republicans spout, so, for the next few hours I find my self on the same side as many on here that I normally disagree with, usually fervently!

I’m raising a can of Red Stripe to Irish chances, and some fortuitous holiday booking at work!

Neil

This scoring in this game is a mystery to me. I enjoy the basics, bowl it- whack it etc but it would help me if someone could post a few pointers on what the hell the scoring actually means. As in “are we there yet?”

2 teams of 11 one bats (England) the other fields (Ireland) for 50 overs (or until all the team has batted and 10 batsmen are out, whichever occurs first). Then the team swap: the one that fields bats (Ireland) while England fields for 50 overs. There are two batsmen at any one time facing each other between the two wickets at the end of each pitch.

An over is 8 balls bowled. A maiden over occurs when no runs are scored by the batsmen. When the batsman hits the ball he runs, swapping places with the other batsmen. The more he runs, the more he scores. If he hits a ball to the boundary then he automatically gets four runs. If he hits it beyond the boundary he automatically gets six runs. If the ball gets back to either wicket before a batsman runs back into it, that batsman is out. If the batsman is bowled to, he can also be caught out, or if the ball hits the wicket (the three stumps) at each end.

Gawd, this is too complicated, sorry I can’t go on any further!

These are some of the rules. I don’t know a lot of the terminology, for example what silly mid-on is. Rain and lack of light can also stop play.

HTH anyway. Read the references I mentioned.

Tochais SÃ­oraÃ­

Over = 6 balls. Don’t be confusing us, merrie, we’re still learning.

merrie

That run rate is too high.

Neil

Thanks, much appreciate. Its the lingo and when you know that you’ve won that are the most confusing bits for me but probably the charm of it for the proper fans I guess.

Like the idea of a game involving little bits of intense action and then lots of standing around thinking about it as thats how my football “style” has evolved with age.

deadmanonleave

KP gone….get in. And 4 and a bit an over is fine now he’s in the hutch!

merrie

…lots of standing around…

That’s probably why it is so popular in tropical countries – and also why it can be really boring to many people.

smcgiff

‘Thatâ€™s probably why it is so popular in tropical countries’

IIRC, that was the geneses of it – England needing a game suited to the hotter parts of the empire.

Sammy,
I am away from a Sky screen unfortunately and listening via my freeview satellite but it doesn’t sound like England are doing enough to me. They seem to be playing with the same joie de vivre as the football team.

Could be a surprise on here if Ireland can put in a decent batting performance.

deadmanonleave

I’m with you there George, England are flat….

Will still need a monumental effort from Ireland to reach 240, but it’s far from impossible.

If you’d have offered me this at the start I’d have taken it, I think.

Now, time for a shower and off to the only pub showing live cricket, where I’ll be the only person cheering Ireland!

esmereldavillalobos

I think we’ve conceded 20-30 runs too many – pity, it was tight for a while there. Porterfield and O’Brien need to consolidate now, see where we are at 30 overs and then bat accordingly – 120 off 20 is gettable with wickets in hand…

confused

Can’t see Ireland win this one—–maybe it is over and I am wrong——–Can’t get to television.
Any way we have put up a good effort and with this success the game will develop.
Give us good weather and we will be a force in World cricket.

esmereldavillalobos

Yup – 30 runs too many.

Marosa

Well, I don’t think Australia and Sri Lanka are going to be quaking in their boots at the prospect of playing England after that… We need to sort out out our top 3 really, it’s not good to lose early wickets and then expect Colly, Pietersen and Flintoff to get us out of trouble every time.

I thought Ireland played very well though. Well done. You’ve got some some good players there and play with good spirit.

The World’s Gone Mad

A decent display by the Irish team who once again have proved that, while not yet ready to take their place in the elite, are certainly competitive against the top nations.

As for England, another lacklustre display and the optimism and momentum built up from the unexpected success in the Trinations series in Australia has rapidly dissipated. While the bowling isn’t too bad, the batting has been moribund too often. There are too many grinders e.g. Joyce, Bell, even Vaughn (who has never truly convinced in this form of the game) who try to accumulate runs in a Test-fashion. It puts a lot of pressure on KP and Flintoff to play the shots. Its a shame they didn’t bring Loye who at least is unpredictable and prepared to play something a bit unorthodox. They will struggle to make the top 4.

From DeDailyMail

England’s cricketing Australians and South Africans are better than our Australians and South Africans – but at least our Irishman is better than theirs.